but now california authorities are seeking to make their own recovery. the civil penalties of more than $4 million for misrepresentations in solic soliciting. california says this charity paid excessive salaries, perks and conducted illegal deals with donated money, all for the benefit of some board members and officers. >> it is a shell game. and i think what we've seen at the end of the day is instead of focusing their intellectual efforts and energies and energies of the corporation on getting money to help the folks who are in need of help, our injured veterans, instead they spend all of their energy, effort and time on these shell games to move money around in order to benefit themselves. >> reporter: according to the chari charity's latest filings, the president of hhv, michael lynch, was paid a salary of $389,000, and that's just the start. in its complaint, california authorities say money donated for hospitalized veterans also paid for memberships in these two country clubses near lynch's home. a cost of $80,000. donated funds paid for this cond